The New Deal, 75 Years Later

Some of the most stirring and enduring words ever spoken by an American president were uttered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” and “a date which will live in infamy,” among them.

But few of his words more dramatically reshaped the country than when, in 1932, Roosevelt pledged to pursue a “new deal” for the American people. Almost exactly 75 years ago, following his inauguration on March 4, 1933, he launched the series of reforms and relief measures that would comprise the New Deal, along with several new agencies with acronyms that reminded some of “alphabet soup.”

Three-quarters of a century later, on March 13 and 14, 2008, the Library’s American Folklife Center, in collaboration with several other divisions, will host a symposium titled “Art, Culture, and Government: The New Deal at 75.” (Online registration is available here.)

The event will combine scholarship along with views into the Library’s collections, which continue to yield new insights into this seminal period in American history.

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